The Class of 2012 will graduate at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 19, at Marion County High School.

The Marion County Board of Education unanimously approved the change during its meeting Tuesday evening at Lebanon Middle School.

High School Principal Stacey Hall said he'd received multiple complaints about graduation being rescheduled from May 12 to May 19, but the change was necessary when the last day of school was moved to May 15.

The world is changing, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise that Kentucky and Marion County are changing, too.

The community and local businesses need to be prepared to deal with those changes. That was the message Ron Crouch delivered in a presentation March 21 at the David R. Hourigan Center. Crouch is the director of research and statistics for the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. Before accepting his current position, he was the director of the Kentucky State Data Center for 20 years.

Madison Beach went to Ecuador hoping for some education and a little entertainment. Instead, she came back inspired.

"I originally went over there to study before I got into dental school," Beach said. "But when I got over there it ended up being so different. I got to see how they lived and how they went to school. It made me appreciate what I have."

Allie Evans entered the art classroom with an iPad in hand ready to shoot some video and, hopefully, find a few students to interview about their projects. Evans, an eighth-grader, is part of the communications class that writes, films, edits and produces a weekly newscast at Lebanon Middle School.

"We have a ton of stuff," Evans said after returning in the classroom where she was reviewing that day's video. "And we only use about a third of what we actually take."

A love for milk and tomatoes might have been Aileen Ferrell's secret to longevity.

At least, that's what she told me when I interviewed her back in 2002.

She was ONLY 95 years old at the time.

I can vividly remember sitting in the kitchen of her huge, historic home on Main Street in Lebanon, and talking with her about her love for milk, vegetables (her favorite being tomatoes), dancing and being a mother.

By the time you read this, the 2012 General Assembly will be one day away from concluding. We have completed 59 days of the 60 day session, the last day, April 12, is reserved for considering any Governor's vetoes, if any.

The hype surrounding the Final Four and Monday night's NCAA men's basketball championship game has focused a national spotlight on the Bluegrass State. While fans of the Cards and Cats certainly had plenty to cheer about, not everything reported has been positive news.

First, a report about two fans getting in a fight at a dialysis clinic was either trumpeted in the national media as an example of the passion of local fans or something to laugh about.